early R.E.M. listeners - have you given the later albums a chance?

Well, Googling around, I see that that show was in March of 1984 and Reckoning was released in April (and REM were back in town at the Orpheum in July). So, I guess I'd consider it a warm-up for the Reckoning tour. That was the first time I saw Husker Du (who were touring for Metal Circus -- which I remember because REM did their encore sporting Metal Circus t-shirts) -- which really was life-changing for me. And then both bands played the Rat the next night (REM as a 'surprise' guest for Husker Du, the listed headliners).

For the Murmur tour, I saw them at the Metro, but they had played the Paradise a few months earlier with the Replacements (!) as support!

Apparently, there were around Boston a lot in those days

 

Funny story (sad really) about that Harvard gym show is that I didn't really know about Husker Du at the time and my wife and I spent their set outside the gym. I soon caught on to HD and spent many years kicking myself over that move.
I have a feeling I was at that Metro show in October '83, a little fuzzy on that. I know I was at the July '84 Orpheum show, and most if not all of the subsequent Boston shows.

 

Obviously music is subjective; as they say: ''Different horses for different courses''. I, and many other R.E.M fans would happily watch a set like this. Not everyone would like it, but then again, not everyone likes R.E.M.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I thought REM didn't get noticed much in the UK until the Green tour?

 

That is almost true (they had their first top 20 UK hit with The One I Love from Document), but I don't quite know how that is relevant?
R.E.M stayed bigger in Europe than they did in the US after Automatic, and in the UK Daysleeper, E-Bow The Letter, At My Most Beautiful, The Great Beyond, Imitation of Life, Bad Day and Leaving New York were some of their biggest hits, with all of them reaching the top 10.

In any case, I was not suggesting my setlist from a Europe point of view (although it would be better received in Europe in a commercial sense). I simply meant it as an example of how many great latter day songs they had, and I think that there is a large section of R.E.M fans who would be very happy to see a show with a setlist like mine. I also think that people who had never heard R.E.M songs before would be impressed to know that the songs in my setlist were not even from what is considered to be their classic run of music.

R.E.M are very rare because there are many fans of each period of their career: there are many fans who consider their work from Murmur to Document as some of the best rock music ever released, there are many people who became fans of the group when they signed with Warner and started touring bigger venues, there are many people who are simply fans of Out of Time and Automatic, and there are many fans of their diverse albums since Automatic, with each one of the albums from Monster to Collapse Into Now having fans who consider them to brilliant albums.

I happen to be a fan of all of their albums, probably because I was not a fan until all but the last one had been released, so I have no baggage with the group and their situations at the times the albums were released. I just see an incredible progression from Chronic Town and Murmur to Accelerate, with Collapse Into Now as an almost perfect full-stop for the group.

 

I was thinking your set list might be more popular with Europeans. Seems like the band did better in the charts in the later years as well.

 

You are definitely right, I am sure that in reality it would do better in Europe. The point I was trying to make was that it is a shame that so many people dismiss R.E.M's later work and so few casual fans know how many good songs there are on the albums from Monster to Collapse.

 

That's interesting, Mess. I didn't realize you came to them late in the game so you have a more objective overview of their work without the emotional/psychological baggage of the music being connected to the journey and/or time it was released. I'm curious, in what order you heard their albums and if you have any particular favorites coming at them from that more objective angle?

This thread has gotten me thinking if there actually ARE any artists that I used to really LOVE at the start of the careers and really "gave up" on over time and stopped buying/listening to their work after a certain album - even to the point of not caring if they had quit up to a certain point. I guess the closest I can come is Elton John. I loved his early 1970's albums, although I was too young to really appreciate them when they were released, I got into them later. His later 70's albums weren't as appealing and he lost me completely until his last 4 or 5 albums, which are kind of a return to form (although his voice is shot). Also the Rolling Stones post-1980 don't do very much for me, although I haven't really given them a real chance. I mean, if I can hang in there with Costello, Bowie, Dylan and Alex Chilton through all the twists and turns, I guess I'm a fairly loyal listener who likes artists who take chances. How about you? Anyone you feel about the way some people here feel about R.E.M. and how they only love their early work?

 

I have always heard songs like Losing My Religion, Everybody Hurts, Shiny Happy People and The One I Love on the radio, so I already liked those songs, but I had never heard any other R.E.M songs until just after Accelerate was released. I was very impressed with Supernatural Superserious, so I got the rest of the album. After that I went back to the beginning and got Murmur, which I loved and then I went through the others in order. Then I got Eponymous and Chronic Town, and stray songs like Animal, The Great Beyond, Photograph, All the Right Friends and Bad Day. I was very excited when Collapse came out, and I still think that it had some of their best ever songs.
I also really enjoyed Part Lies, which helped me to appreciate all of the different stages in their career and I liked all three new songs.

So far I have never given up on someone, if they release a lesser/bad album, I just hope that their next album is better.

 

I'm in the same boat with the Mess... I knew their popular songs and had a couple comps, but I didn't get into their albums until recently. Now, Peter Buck is my favorite guitarist to listen to, and I have and love every album through Reveal, so I'm glad R.E.M. clicked with me.

 

Every R.E.M. album has worth to me. Even Around the Sun, which I hated upon release and for a number of years. R.E.M. is one of those bands that has challenged me to grow, to open my ears and I am grateful for that. They were my favorite band for many years and I was literally depressed when they broke up. I have a soft spot for Up, Reveal is a lovely summer album, New Adventures is a great, sprawling, well, adventure. Songs like Be Mine and Electrolite. And then Accelerate hit me over the head like a tons of bricks, reaffirming my love for the band after Around the Sun. And finally, Collapse Into Now summed up their career well, with many references to their past. And in typical R.E.M. fashion, they offered their fans a final few songs, released with the two disc best of set.

 

I have a weird relationship with this band. In the mid-late 80's when I was in college they were the band that all the (proto) hipsters listened to. And I was into the classic rock stuff at the time. So at the time I had a natural dislike for them, some of it for musical reasons, some not.

A few years I made friends with a guy who had a ton of music and REM was his favorite band. So I listened a little more to their stuff, but still not much interest.

Green came out, got popular. Then AFTP. You couldn't avoid them. KRS-One on Radio Song was cool at the time (I was starting to get into some hiphop), now it's just cringeworthy.

Fast forward 20 years or so. Now the 80s are nostalgia. So I pick up Life's Rich Pageant and actually relate more to the songs. It grows on me... there are some lively songs here (and I like the nature theme). So I explore backwards. Murmur is actually an album I really like now. I still am not crazy about all of their early stuff but there are a few songs that are really interesting musically to me... some of their chord progressions just hit the spot ... deceptively simple but not really.

I am just not a big fan of the mainstream REM sound and there is no nostalgia factor so I have never really given their later albums a chance. I primarlily like the indie-REM sound, I guess. I stop at AFTP and rarely listen to that.

 

I think everyone would agree that Live at the Olympia is a fine masterpiece, regardless of whether IR.S. or Warner were a better period, I think the Olympia performances should appeal to every fan of the band.

The "experiment in terror" as Michael Stipe called it, showed R.E.M. at the top of their game, despite a quarter of a century of existence, despite band members reaching middle age, they demonstrated the power of their live show which had always been the band's strength. They were still able to write loud and fast paced rock songs like the ones they premiered in Dublin, which were to become the foundation for Accelerate the next year.

 

I just wish Olympia wasn't so darned loud. (Anybody try the vinyl?) Always the loudest thing on my Sansa Clip in rotation. But it's worth purchasing for "On the Fly" alone, which is their best song of their last period I think.

Wish I could have been at those shows. I'd be all for a vault type release of each of the five nights, straight up with no tweaking in a sort of bootleg reminiscent fan release.

 

Live at the Olympia is fantastic, the version of New Test Leper on that surpasses the studio version (sorry, Bill).

I used it on my R.E.Mix comp I did a few years ago.

 

I have all the studio albums except the last one. I gave them a chance. I didn't much care for any of their post-Document albums. Some I liked less than others, but none ever really got under my skin the way their IRS albums did.

 

I've heard everything but Collapse Into Now and the R.E.M. Live album.

Green (5/10): Pretty boring but nothing too offensive
Out Of Time (8/10): A good one, up there with Fables and Document in my opinion, but behind the other IRS albums
Automatic For The People (7/10): At its best it's very good, but "Star Me Kitten", "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1", "Drive" and "Ignoreland" were warning signs for the future
Monster (3/10): Back to electric guitars after the heavy orchestrations of AFTP, but compared to the band's early albums this sounds dull and uninspired to me and the songs are not well written
New Adventures In HiFi (6/10): Their most fun album since the IRS days, mostly because they're not trying so hard here and just keeping things simple and direct.
Up (2/10): Bill Berry's replaced by a drum machine and the remaining members deliver songs that sound like the Thompson Twins played at 1/4 of the original speed. One of my least favourites.
Reveal (5/10): Back to more upbeat material, but apart from the catchy single "Imitation Of Life" the album doesn't have any truly great songs
Around The Sun (1/10): More big ballads for the John Denver and Barry Manilow fans who loved "Everybody Hurts" and "Nightswimming", the low point of the band's career for me.
R.E.M. Live: Haven't heard it, but with only 2 songs from the first five albums the setlist doesn't look interesting
Accelerate (5/10): Monster vol. 2? Back to electric guitars again, but with the songwriting again disappointing that counts for nothing
Live At the Olympia (7/10): So many songs from the IRS days were a pleasant surprise for me and the Accelerate songs, even though they're not nearly as good, fit in well. A good listen.
Collapse Into Now: Sorry, haven't heard it.

 

Fixed that for me

 

I generally agree - when I saw them on the Around the Sun tour however, their concert drummer was excellent. Which leads me to believe that Berry's input regarding arrangements was an even more potent force in REM's alchemy than his formidable skills behind the kit.

 

Also his amazing songwriting; he did contribute arguably their best two ballads, Perfect Circle and Everybody Hurts.

 

I agree, it is just as crucial as their studio albums and Eponymous. I also enjoy the R.E.M Live album, and I really hope that now that they are releasing the fantastic Unplugged shows, they release their last 'live in the studio' performance with the great Oh My Heart, as an album.

 

I've been a fan from the beginning and Reveal is one of my favourite REM albums. It's so underrated/ignored/never heard.

 

Indeed, those studio rehearsals from Berlin were really great, I liked the simple visual production and the aesthetics of those clips, hopefully they put out a DVD at some point in the future. I enjoyed all of the performances (except for maybe Alligator Aviator) but since "All the best" is my favourite on Collapse into Now that would be also my favourite of the rehearsal videos.

 

A great book about R.E.M. is Fiction, as soon as I finished I wanted to read it again.
It was written during the Reveal era.

 

I've seen a photo of them at an album signing session at the old Strawberries Records - can't recall which album it was but might have been Reckoning.